ICE Vehicles: General topics

[Herdfan]

Japan had a displacement limit of some sort (not sure how it was imposed, taxed, etc., don't believe it's still in place). That's why you saw a ton of performance oriented cars stay at 3.0L or less and use turbocharging. It wasn't like the net result was that much more effective in terms of weight, packaging, cost, complexity, etc.

It isn't.

My wife's 2010 Rover had a 5.0L V8 and would get 21-23 on trips. Her 2016 has the 3.0L SuperCharged and only gets 18-20 on trips. So we lost 2L of displacement, lost 60 HP, lost the smoothness of a V8 and still got less mileage.

Sometimes she wishes she still had the 2010.

 

[Herdfan]

You know, I used some "high end" batteries a few times, they didn't work/last any better, I'm convinced the "store brand" batteries are 100% as good.

I usually buy the Duralast Gold from AutoZone. They are the same battery as the Platinum but instead of a pro-rated warranty after 12 months, they are a full replacement for 36 months for $20-40 more. Never had one not make the 36 month mark.

The only high-end battery I use is the Odessy in my SXS. Need the better vibration tolerance.

 

[User.168]

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[DT]

Did they really though? I cannot find anything to prove, or disprove, this, apart from some old post on a forum back from 2004 claiming that cars over 2.6 litres are not allowed. I find that hard to believe, since we had Supras with 3 litre engines. They definitely had a 180 km/h, or so, mandated speed limit on all cars sold in Japan at some stage.

Right, I looked up a few things too, and it's almost like it was a "Gentleman's Agreement" vs. any kind of actual gub'ment enforced law.

Yeah, Supras were an I6 3L, 300ZX and 3000GT had 3L V6s, the RX7 had umm, OK, never mind about that one

(FWIW, I had a '94 Supra, and '88 and '94 Turbo RX7s )

 

[quagmire]

Speaking about batteries and hopefully this is 2-3 years out, but the stock 12V battery in Tesla's apparently love dying early. There is a third party Lithium solution that everyone likes over at TMC called Ohmmu. Quite expensive though at $440, but seems to last for quite a while, provides more juice, and weighs quite a bit lighter. Have you used it @JohnR ?

The Model S just changed over to Lithium for its 12V battery from lead.

 

[JohnR]

Speaking about batteries and hopefully this is 2-3 years out, but the stock 12V battery in Tesla's apparently love dying early. There is a third party Lithium solution that everyone likes over at TMC called Ohmmu. Quite expensive though at $440, but seems to last for quite a while, provides more juice, and weighs quite a bit lighter. Have you used it @JohnR ?

The Model S just changed over to Lithium for its 12V battery from lead.

Yeah, I have heard of that lithium ion one. A buddy's battery was about dead and he debated on it. But when he found out that service can replace it for $189, then he went that way. Batteries usually should be replaced 4-5 years anyway, so I guess it's all about what you think will be worth it.

 

[quagmire]

Yeah, I have heard of that lithium ion one. A buddy's battery was about dead and he debated on it. But when he found out that service can replace it for $189, then he went that way. Batteries usually should be replaced 4-5 years anyway, so I guess it's all about what you think will be worth it.

Yeah if the batteries were dying within 4-5 years, wouldn't necessarily complain. But seems with Tesla's, you seem to be lucky to get 3 years out of the lead-acid 12V. Quite a bit of people say they have had theirs die within 2.

 

[JohnR]

I'm going to run a survey with my club and see how many got their batteries changed and at what year. Will post the details

 

[bunnspecial]

Most store brand batteries in the US are made by the same company - Johnson Controls. That division was sold off to another company and is now called Clarios.

Not quite.

There are 3 battery manufacturers in the US of flooded lead acid batteries(at least that I know of/am familiar with)-Exide, Johnson Controls, and East Penn. The general consensus where I've asks thinks that East Penn is best, Exide worst,and JC somewhere in the middle. With that said, some "classic" premium brands like DieHard(now an Advance Auto brand) are JC. Every Duralast battery from AZ I've handled is Exide. When I needed a battery for my MKZ a few years ago, I went out of my way to find an East Penn, and the NAPA premium store brands are East Penn(or at least were then).

Everstarts are an interesting case. Around here, they all seem to be JC. With that said, I've seen-anecdotally-that Everstarts can be from all three manufacturers. Lead acid batteries are heavy, and I'd not be surprised if a decent part of the cost of them is shipping. What I've heard is that Wal-Mart sources batteries in any particular store based on which plant is closest since it cuts down on shipping cost. I've seen photos of Exide and East Penn Everstarts. I seem to recall that East Penn SNs start with EP, and Exides start with X. JC starts with JC.

Of course all three manufacturers will make batteries to whatever spec is requested, including things like plate quality. The cheapo Everstarts seem to sometimes be a pound or two lighter than say a DieHard of the same size, and sometimes within a size/group you can find better CCA specs or other specs with other brands.

 

[User.168]

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[bunnspecial]

View attachment 7069
I guess it depends on how you define most, but Costco, Walmart. autozone and advance is good enough for me. Johnson controls sold the battery business and the new company is called Clarios. Clarios is quite a lot bigger than any of the companies you mentioned.

Hmmm, the Duralast batteries I've had in the past most certainly were Exide and marked as such. I've seen Everstarts made by East Penn and Exide.

A bit of reading seems I'm out of the loop and perhaps Exide is no more...

 

[User.168]

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[bunnspecial]

So, here's another question to propose to you all:

My MKZ is 11 years old now, and at a bit under 90K miles I'm starting to wonder if I should be shopping for something else. Mileage wise it has a lot of life left, but you can't stop years, and as much as I enjoy working on cars I do need something with some semblance of reliability.

I'm probably a year off from replacement, but figure it never hurts to start shopping now.

Ideally, I'd like a midsize to full size rear wheel drive car, but it looks like outside a BMW, Mercedes, Genesis, or Lexus LS I might be out of luck on that. I'd REALLY love a V8, but don't know what on that list I can find with one. I think maybe there's a Cadillac also-the CT6? I'm not sure if I really want to go German either...

I'm floating a couple of other ideas. Lincoln sedans are gone from new production, but by the time I'm ready to buy there should still be a decent supply of used ones. I could go with an MKZ for familiarity. Poking around a bit it looks like one local dealer has some really attractively priced Continentals. I've driven my dad's Continental a bit, and I'm sort of...meh...on it. With that said, his is a base model(I thought the 2015 MKS he traded in was honestly a better/nicer car). It has the 3.7L NA, and honestly it feels a bit less "lively" than my MKZ. I did find a nice and relatively affordable 2018 Black Label with a 3.0L Ecoboost and it's tempting to say the least.

To be honest, though, I know sedans are on their deathbed but it's still what I want and none of the options I'm aware of out there are saying "Buy Me."

 

[DT]

Yeah, geez, your options in that segment are so limited. I was chuckling the other day, on Ford.com they have their vehicles grouped by general type, and clicking the 'cars' menu item gets you this:

One.

 

[bunnspecial]

I know-they're killing me with not selling cars anymore...my last couple dailies have been FoMoCo products. In fact aside from the Maxima I learned to drive in and the MG(and Marina) I've owned nothing but FoMoCo products.

Unless I buy something that's a couple years old by the time I'm ready to buy, though, it looks like that might be my only option.

Time to poke around a bit more...

 

[DT]

Oh, I guess some of their cars migrated under the 'Electrified' menu, like the Fusion HEV/PHEV, but they're not available anymore (listed as a 2020 CPO ONLY).

I mean, if it were me, I'd get a CTS-V

2014 Cadillac CTS - Carvana

Used 2014 Cadillac CTS CTS-V Coupe 2D for $52,090 with 18,654 miles. | Carvana

www.carvana.com

 

[Huntn]

I was looking at some used car prices and they seem currently ridiculous. A 10 year old car with 150k miles and they are asking $30k for? These are what I would describe as average brands.

 

[User.168]

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[DT]

I was looking at some used car prices and they seem currently ridiculous. A 10 year old car with 150k miles and they are asking $30k for? These are what I would describe as average brands.

Well, yeah, it's why is was amazing as a seller the last few months. I drove my Mustang for 2 years, sold it for the same price I paid, we drove the DD/RT for 3 years, bought it post-lease, sold it for close to $10K profit

The 4xe turned out extra great price-wise, got the $7500 tax credit up front, $2000 from the dealer, the MSRP went up ~$1800 about 60 days after we leased, it's $150 cheaper a month vs. the DD it replaced and a $5K more expensive car - woot!

Zero effect from the zany market - though now 4xe models are getting a $5K+ ADM, hahaha wow, a win for early adopters. Same with the Tesla, same lease program as always, no haggle, one price - we're crossing our fingers for some retroactive tax credit.

 

[bunnspecial]

A CTS-V would be tempting.

Truth be told, I was playing around and an M3 might actually be imminently doable, plus the RWD version is manual. Mrs. BunnSpecial might not like that, though...although she keeps saying she wants to learn how to. There's just a big difference between the "Yeah, I'd like to learn" and then the "Okay, it's a nice afternoon, let's go"

Definitely not buying for a while now, though, and maybe used and new prices will level out.

It's a bit of a shock now to look around and see huge car lots that look relatively empty. A lot of them are saying that they just can't get used inventory, and new seems short now also. I saw a couple of photos from back in Louisville of huge parking lots around town that Ford has leased and is just piling in F150s that apparently they can't finish because of the semiconductor shortage.

As a more general comment, the economy right now actually kind of terrifies me. The stock market is on fire, interest rates are low, and the(needed) stimulus has dumped a lot of money into the economy. We did a bit of house shopping just for something bigger, and in this area if something doesn't sell in a week for above ask there's something wrong with it. I'm afraid we're about to fall HARD, but also be stuck with a pile of inflation resulting from all of this. The other side of it, that, though, is that I can delay a car purchase and we can delay a house purchase for a little while, and maybe when things settle down(hopefully not with a crash, but just with better supply both in cars and real estate) we can have a bit better of a pick.